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For immediate publication

COLLABORATED EFFORT TO AID UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN WITH VISION PROBLEMS
PruBSN Prihatin partners with Our Optometris to bring better vision for more than 1,000 Children

Kuala Lumpur, 22 November 2021 - Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad (PruBSN), through its charitable arm, PruBSN Prihatin has collaborated with Our Optometris, to provide children with better vision through its Vision for Education programme.

Launched in 2018 by PruBSN Prihatin, Vision for Education aims to create awareness on the importance of having good eye vision and eye health, which is imperative for quality education. As a programme under the Education and Life Skills initiative called “Program Bijak Belajar” to overcome poverty and illiteracy among underprivileged school students by providing basic skills of 3R (i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic), it highlights the need for corrective actions for vision problems or impairment from a young age by providing free eye examination, prescription glasses or eye treatment.  

Our Optometris is a social enterprise organisation that provides eye care services to the underprivileged communities at a very minimal cost. Partnering with PruBSN Prihatin, they run the Vision for Education programme at schools with volunteers that does charity works with other NGOs to provide eye care services to the needy.

Commenting on this initiative, President of PruBSN Prihatin, Wan Saifulrizal Wan Ismail said that they hope to provide the corrective actions for underprivileged children with vision impairment for them to be able to improve their learning abilities and reach their highest potential. Through this, they would also be able to perform better in their daily activities such as playing sports and other recreational activities.  

Since the programme was introduced, Vision for Education has benefited more than 1,000 school children throughout Malaysia from more than 10 schools. In April 2021, the programme was extended to hospitals through a collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH).  A pilot phase with ten hospitals was run and ten more hospitals were added in the list in October 2021. To date, 601 pairs of glasses have been donated to children from underprivileged homes across Malaysia with more than 2,266 children involved for the free eye examination from 2018 to 2020. In conjunction of the World Sight Day this year, the programme hopes to be able to aid additional 200 children or more by end of 2021.

Nor Diyana Hani Binti Ghani, Our Optometris Programme Coordinator added, “When the pandemic hit, we were unable to conduct free eye examinations in schools. We collaborated with the Ministry of Health to ensure the programme’s reach was wider and more comprehensive.  Vision for Education Program is a good collaborative effort that could help more children with disabilities to obtain the necessary aid that they need, as it can play such an important role in a child’s development,”

“We are very pleased to be able to work together for the Vision for Education Programme and would like to thank both Our Optometris and PruBSN Prihatin for being the main sponsors of this programme as well as for their donations, especially the free glasses for children and adolescents in need. We hope that this programme will be implemented in the long run and as well as expanding it to every MOH facility that provides Optometry services for the benefit of more children,” said Datin Rosmawati Binti Uthman, Head of the Optometry Profession, Ministry of Health Malaysia. 

Some of the participating hospitals in the first phase of the Vision for Education Programme include Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang, Hospital Sultanah Nora Ismail Batu Pahat, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun Ipoh, Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan (HTAA) Kuantan and more.

“Some students face issues academically caused by eye vision problems that hinders them from learning effectively in school. Eyeglasses and treatments can be expensive for the poor, hence this is why we are addressing their needs for an improved quality of education. As the leading family takaful operator in Malaysia, we aim to help people get the most out of life and strive to build a stronger community. We have been steadfast in serving the community for the past 15 years and will continue to support the community for many years to come.” added Wan Saifulrizal.